My son is famous for going to KFC and asking for the Potato Crisper Burger and Chicken Popcorn. There's no logic to his preference where I am concerned. Why not eat a chicken burger when you go to KFC. Unfortunately there is no reasoning with him. As any parent will tell you, I'm just happy he's eating something that he likes when we go out.

So for a while now, he's been asking me to do what I always do with our favourite foods...make it at home. He was serious enough about it to show me YouTube videos of copycat KFC chicken popcorn recipes. Yup, he did that. That's when I decided to go for it. What's the worst that could happen, right?

Method

1. Mix chicken with all the ingredients and keep aside to marinade for 15 minutes.
2. Coat the chicken with the coating mixture.
3. Heat oil and add the chicken pieces one at a time.
4. Fry till golden brown on a medium flame.

It came out moist and juicy. Although our pieces were more nugget sized than popcorn sized. Pus they were not as spicy as the original KFC popcorn. Eventually we came to this video and I think I'm going to try it next.

Sali Boti quite literally means potato and meat. The fine sali which is representative of the Parsi potato snack is not available in the north. So I made do with it's thicker cousin the Masala Lacha. Anyway, considering how fast the bowl disappeared, I'd say the substitution did not make much of a difference.

Method
1. Heat oil and add the chopped onions. Get them nice and brown.
2. Add the ginger garlic paste and fry some more.
3. Add tomato puree, red chili powder, haldi and green chili chopped.
4. Next go in the rock salt and water.
5. Add the meat and simmer for about an hour till water is reduced.
6. Now add the jeera powder and garam masala once mutton is tender.
7. Fry the potatoes and keep aside.
8. Plate the mutton. Put the fries on the side and sprinkle the sali on the top. Serve hot.

Chocolate Cupcakes are an eternal favourite among children. Although if they are vegetarian it can become a difficult task for me, since most of my baking contains eggs. This was an experiment to see if eggless cupcakes could be made without curd and oil. Turned out fairly well, if not quite as fluffy, in my opinion.

1. Beat together sugar and cream till pale.
2. Add the milk, mix well.
3. Spoon in the sifted flour, cocoa, baking soda and baking powder.
4. Fold well and scoop out batter into cupcake shells till half full.
5. Bake in microwave on high power for 4 to 5 minutes. Timing differs based on number of cupcakes in the batch.
6. Mix all the frosting ingredients to form a firm but pliable batter.
7. Roll it out with a pin and use the fondant cutter to make the shapes.
8. Place the butterfly on the hot cupcake as soon as it comes out of the microwave. It will melt at the base and stick.

It all began early on Valentine's Day when my cousin posted a video of a Chocolate and Raspberry Zebra Striped Cake on our WhatsApp Group. The technique was simple and I was itching to try it out. Good thing I was already planning on baking a cake that morning. Of course since I did not have any Raspberry Jam I decided to modify the recipe somewhat. Here's what I cam up with.

Ingredients

2 Cups Flour

1 Cup Castor Sugar

1 Tsp Salt

1 Tsp Baking Powder

4 Eggs

1 Cup Oil

1 Cup Milk

1 Tsp Vanilla Powder

1/4 Cup Cocoa

1/2 Cup White Chocolate Shavings

For Frosting

2 Cups Heavy Cream

1 and 1/2 cup Chocochips

Method

1. Sift together the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder.

2. Whisk the eggs and add the oil to them.

3. Mix well and add the milk and vanilla powder.

4. Add the flour mix to the liquid and stir well till all lumps are gone.

5. Split the batter in two halves. Add cocoa to one half and white chocolate shavings to the other.

6. Now spoon in alternate scoops of the batter into the baking dish.

7. I baked it in the microwave on high power for five minutes. The original recipe suggested 175 degrees and 25 minutes for the regular oven.

8. Since I had some excess batter left over I made cupcakes with chocolate centers.

9. The Heavy Cream and Chocochips need to be brought to a boil together to make the frosting. Simply pour over the cake when you are done.